Hungary Rising: Two Recollections

Published: December 3, 2006

To the Editor:

In Jacob Heilbrunn's review of books about the Hungarian uprising of 1956 (Oct. 29), the point was made, and correctly so, that Radio Free Europe, sponsored by the C.I.A., encouraged and incited the Hungarian freedom fighters and raised false hopes of American support for their cause.

What has not been reported was the role of the Voice of America at that time. I was the overnight editor in the V.O.A. newsroom during that period. We had access to all the major news services reporting on events in Hungary and, at all times, were very careful to report only on those events that could be double-sourced.

We were aware of Radio Free Europe's inflammatory reporting but at no time did we depart from our role as a news organization. I think the Voice of America and the reporters and editors who worked on this story deserve credit for their restraint and reporting of this historic event.

Louis G. Buttell

Silver Spring, Md.

To the Editor:

Jacob Heilbrunn's review brought back memories. As the U.S. Information Agency's columnist specializing in foreign and Communist affairs, I was shocked in 1956 when I was instructed that I must not comment oneither the uprising that had erupted in Hungary, or the British-French seizure of the Suez Canal. The most momentous events of the day, andI was muzzled as editors overseas awaitedthe events-of-the-day columns they had been publishing for years. As asubstitute topic, I chose to focus on a key development half a world away that had escaped the attention of the international press:growing evidence I had discerned of apolicy split between Communist China and the Soviet Union.

I was treading on swampy ground: Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was adamant in his insistence that the various Communist regimes were part of a ''monolithic empire'' and were to be referred to as such by government spokesmen. I detailed the signs of rift, and the clear message from Beijing (then Peiping) that it intended to raise itselfto equal international standing with Moscow. Moscow's arguments were being recited by the Communist press in Yugoslavia, with Beijing's counterclaims trumpeted by the party media in Albania.

When my commentary came out, the U.S.I.A. and State Department experts denounced it as nonsense. There was no rift between the Communist giants; ''monolithic unity'' wasvery much the order of the day in both capitals. These, of course, were the same intelligence analysts who, taking their cue from the C.I.A., had insisted that the Hungarian people would never revolt so long as their country was surrounded by Communist troops.

It tookthe State Department two more years to awaken to the fact that Moscow and Beijing were no longer a couple.

As Heilbrunn notes, George F. Kennan's prediction was coming true: Stalin's vast empire did indeed contain the seeds of its own demise -- to which it must be added, not only in Eastern Europe but in China as well.